Ebb and Flow
by thatdamnedfool
Summary: "What is this damned game we constantly play Link? We're together and then we're not, you're here by side and then suddenly you're running away back into the wild again... I expected things to change after two long years but that's just not the case is it?" Five years after the end of botw, Link and Zelda still struggle to navigate their turbulent relationship.
1. Ebb and Flow

**For those of you following my other story don't worry! I'm still writing it. The section I'm doing though is quite time consuming to write, there are a lot of characters and pieces to move for the story to flow properly and I don't want it to turn into an incoherent mess. So I'll be writing the next load of chapters together after my final wave of work is finished mid-May (most have already been finished I just need to go through them all).**

 **As for this it'll be a short 3 part series, centered only around Link and Zelda's relationship. I'm interested in what happens if everything didn't go well for the two at the end of botw. Hopefully you find it as interesting/fun to read and as I did writing it.**

 **Be sure to let me know what you think of it, I'm curious how I did and maybe how I can improve.**

* * *

Ebb and Flow- Part 1

Sunlight shot through the room like an arrow of light, revealing the rather orderly layout of her study. The Queen gripped the chair in front of her tightly. She knew what was coming next.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid the guard is rather overwhelmed as it is. I simply don't have the manpower to handle this and even if I did, the men would not be skilled or discreet enough."

"I see,"

"So…what is your decree?"

She sighed gently. "It looks like we don't have a choice. It really has been a while though hasn't it? I know you all miss him."

"We live to serve at her Majesty's pleasure."

"Of course…" She glanced out of the window looking beyond the walls into the green plains of Hyrule field. "Send an envoy to the hero immediately; I want them to be in Hateno by tomorrow evening."

There was no mistaking the pull of a smile at the guard's lips, as though two threads were being tugged by some invisible puppeteer. He bowed before hurriedly exiting the room.

Zelda turned towards the picture frame to the side of her study, it was from that day over one hundred years ago. The surprised faces of the champions lay on the photo as the Great Daruk crushed them between two large rocky hands.

As though the puppeteer had suddenly gained control of Zelda's face, a large genuine smile formed on her face. She picked it up with two hands and her fingers glided over the image of her rather shocked appointed Knight.

"Well...here we go again Link."

She placed the frame back in its proper position and got back to the large pile of documents that had formed on her desk.

* * *

Link kicked the sludge off his boots on the first step of his house. He remembered how long it had taken to get the ChuChu jelly off the rug with a shudder. The idea of it was more terrifying than any monster.

The Light was gently fading now. The gentle hum of chatter coming from the village down below had already slowed down to a quiet patter. Cold air was beginning to flow into the valley but, it was a welcomed feeling. A break from the unbearable heat of the past few weeks. Still the warm air of the house was more than inviting.

However, Link could not resist staying out in the approaching night air and walked over to the old cooking pot under the tree, resting his back on the thick trunk as he sat beneath its leaves, whistling a familiar tune into the growing darkness around him.

It would be more than easy to fall asleep here, in fact he had done it before many times but, Link could not rest the tide of thoughts flowing through his head.

His bones ached with fatigue, it worsened by the day but, still he would keep venturing out into the Kingdom to find some new adventure to pursue. It was the only way he could drown out the noise. It was always there when he stayed in one place for too long or if he didn't occupy himself properly. The noise was a list, a very long list. On it there were fears of the future and trepidations of his troubled past. Worse of them all though, were the regrets.

 _Put that to the back of your mind what's done is done. There's no point in going back._

The elder had been on his back again. She wanted him to issue another warning to Purah after the last almost cataclysmic accident, which could've turned the village into a smaller, yet equally dry, version of the Gerudo desert.

"Hero- I mean Master Link,"

Link cringed as he always did at the mention of the H-word. However he was more than pleased to hear Hoz's voice call out to him once again. He had been among the first Knights he trained and was truly dedicated to the art.

Link pushed himself up and greeted the advancing figure with a crushing hug.

"It's good to see you again," Link said, allowing the genuine sincerity show in his voice.

The Knight smiled back at him. "And I you," he moved a hand over his black goatee. "It really has been too long, just over two years right?"

Link eyes widened a little. Goddesses he wasn't wrong it really had been two years since he had stormed out of the castle. He could remember that day almost too clearly. Time really does fly when you're hunting down monsters and Yiga.

He felt his eyes move over to the inviting home and looked down with a knowing grimace. "I'm guessing you're not here for a simple reunion, its best you just ask now."

"Link I-" The hero's eyes shot up to him with a glare as the Akkalan Knight's speech was killed before it even took off, he fidgeted slightly. "The Queen has requests the Hero of Hyrule's help in a matter rather sensitive to the crown."

Link whistled. "Wow she's gotten even more formal over the past two years, hasn't she?"

"Link…"

"Can no one else do it?" his tone was desperate. The thought of returning to that castle was almost too much to bear.

"No one else."

Link looked up with a quick grin. "Well no use waiting around, it'd hardly be proper to refuse an order from the Queen herself."

* * *

The Castle was abuzz with activity. It seemed almost strange to think back to a time when it was abandoned. It should've felt empty or even lonely then but, it had been some of the most cherished memories of Zelda's life.

 _Look where we are now, how did we get into this mess Link?_

She missed the outside country greatly but the memories attached to those fields outside were almost too much to visit again, at least not by herself.

The letter had arrived but a few hours ago. The hero would be with her in a matter of minutes. She had spent the past hour pacing the room ferociously, words echoing around her head. There was so much she wanted to say but so much she wouldn't.

What was this feeling coursing through her veins? Was she dreading the conversation or was she longing for it. It had been far too long; she hardly understood what they were anymore. Only one thing was for certain, Link sure could make her heart beat hard in her chest.

"He's here my Queen."

"Thank you Gotter, please send him in,"

She clasped her hands together and she looked at the window. All thoughts and feelings were removed and thrown out into the courtyard below. It would be best to just get it over with.

"Looks like a lot's changed in two years," the voice crushed her lungs down, as she let out a quiet shaky breath. "I still don't think I can get used to calling you Queen. It seems you've been rather busy though."

Zelda turned and met the intensity of his indigo eyes head on. They were like the ancient flames themselves and had not dimmed since she last saw him. If Zelda had not known him so well she would've thought him a rather sinister character. Over his clothes he wore a thick dark cloak and hood, which he had now pulled back to show his annoyingly attractive features.

Her eyes glanced over his body. It would seem that he was taller since their last altercation and his muscles had grown larger, pushing out against the Hylian Tunic beneath his cloak. The fact he didn't still wear the blue garb, she had once made for him, hurt a little but, it was to be expected.

"I said I was going to rebuild Hyrule greater than ever before, I meant it," she said, meeting his gaze again.

Link walked over to the table to the side of the room picking up an apple from the bowl and studying it like crow watches silver. "I never doubted that… You always were beyond dedicated"

"You're the one to talk," the fondness cut through her voice surprising them both. "You exploits are the constant talk of the Castle, I should probably thank you for all the headaches you have avoided me.

She tightened her posture. "I'll cut to the chase…I nee- The Kingdom needs your help."

Link nodded putting the apple back down in the bowl gently.

"It's hardly like I can refuse," Link said.

"It wouldn't be the first time," the words slipped out before she could moderate them. How infuriating, every word she spoke to anyone else was so deliberate and carefully thought out, moments before it was spoken, with Link it was impossible. When Link's gaze came up it was not the same fiery look he had given her two years ago. Instead it was just sad.

"Last I remember you ordered me to leave," he said softly.

"I was angry Link…" His sorrow was infectious and it pushed itself down into her stomach until she felt sick. "I didn't expect you to actually do it, I thought you would come back but you never did."

"I didn't think you wanted me to," he walked over to the table she stood behind and placed two hands on the chair in front of him.

"It doesn't matter now though does it? That's just what happened and we'll have to deal with that." She ignored the feeling that crept up on her as he moved closer. She so desperately wanted to tell him but the words remained rooted deep in her throat.

 _I missed you dummy_

"What is this damned game we play constantly Link?"

He looked to her quizzically. It seemed Zelda's candidness had caught him quite off guard.

"We're together and then were not, you're here by side and then suddenly you're running away back into the wild again... I expected things to change after two long years but that's just not the case is it?"

Link stared behind her out of the window longingly. "I know," he said. "We're hardly the perfect image of the Hero and the Princess written down in time."

"Do you think they argued like us?" she asked walking slowly around the edges of her desk, placing a hand on its side.

Link chuckled. "I think it'd be an achievement to argue as much as us."

She joined him allowing laughs to rock her body gently. "You're right it would…"

Zelda sighed gently, though this time she was glad it was not out of sadness or frustration.

"Curse you Link, I'm getting side-tracked again. Sidon has been taken by Yiga and King Dorephan calls on me to save him, after all the Yiga are my problem."

Link ruffled his hair, before tying it back behind his head again. "Hardly unexpected, Yiga would have an easy time catching him off guard. He'd probably talk to Yiga clan member even if they were disguised as a rock."

He took off his cloak and placed it on the chair infront. He had loosened up significantly since he had first entered the room. Link sat down in the chair and put his feet rather casually on the Monarch's personal desk.

"This is the first I've ever heard of it. Why has Dorephan not put out the word, there are many who would risk their lives for him, mine included," he eyed her curiously.

"The Zora King isn't going to live forever Link, despite the long lives of the Zora. Even now his strength is fading. Sidon must look strong to his people when he takes the throne." Zelda said. The desperate letter from the King had been rather upsetting to read; the King was so proud, so mighty and yet a single letter showed his weaker more frantic side.

"It seems as though we keep losing the people that tie us to the past, eventually it'll be just you and me left." He looked at her with that silent face of sadness, the one she just couldn't bare to look at.

Her heart squeezed for him. "Impa's death was hard on everyone."

"So the mission is one to be done discreetly." He folded his arms. "I can hardly say that's my biggest strong point."

She unclasped her hands; this part would be the most difficult but, yet the most necessary. "That is why I shall be joining you."

Link's eyes widened so much that Zelda feared they would pop out of his head. Still there were worse reactions. Zelda braced herself for the inevitable torrent of divergence.

He stifled a cough. "There's no point in arguing I can already see. Can I ask why though?"

She looked up, slightly surprised. It seemed that some things had changed over the past two years. "As I said, this needs to be done rather discreetly for the benefit of the Kingdom, which is something I am more proficient in than you."

Zelda paused, studying his questioning expression slightly. "But mainly, I feel as though if I stay in this castle a moment longer I will go completely mad. I need to see the country again, feel the breath of the wild through my hair once again." She stopped again. The look on his face was unreadable, like a tome in the ancient Shieka text. "Please Link…"

Then Link grinned up at her. "C'mon, Queen or not it's not like I could ever refuse you."

She looked down at her feet, hoping the smile she was trying to hide wasn't too noticeable. "Well I guess that's good then… We should get going if we want to make it past the Great Plateau in good time."

"After you then,"

* * *

Link prepared the saddle for his horse. Above the wooden roof of the stable thunder rumbled, it seemed the dry spell of the past few weeks was finally coming to an end. Though it meant no climbing, Link would be happy to feel the rain again. There was something oddly calming about its presence, maybe it was the gentle patter, or the cool feeling it brought. It was something most people didn't get.

Zelda walked down into the private stables. She wore her classic traveller's garb. Brown trousers they were fine, though they clung to her rather shapely thighs in a way that…

 _Nope…stop, that's the Queen_

However as for the rest, a royal blue and gold grab really? And her gold hair just flowed freely over her back.

She noticed he was staring. "What's wrong?"

Link sighed. "For five years I've gotten pretty good at hiding in plain sight, I hardly get recognised anymore. You on the other hand, are quite clearly pretty shocking at it…"

"Is it the boots? I'm sorry I just had them made we can put mud on them if you want? Give them a used look you know?" Zelda flustered about looking over her clothes. She looked rather cute embarrassed.

As he moved over to her, she tensed visibly.

"The boots are fine. The shirt must go though, along with all the other royal appurtenance," Link said, something in him leaping slightly as red flushed to her cheeks.

"In simpler times I would've taken that as a proposition," she replied watching him beneath long eyelashes.

"And your hair is hardly discreet… I'd say most could notice you solely from that." He grabbed a spare length of string and moved behind her.

"Link I-" she cut off as his hands glided through her hair moving the flowing waterfall of gold upwards, tying it neatly on the back of her head. He had forgotten the way it had felt in his hands, cool and silky, and the way her shoulders released instantly when he ran his hands through it. The way she seemed to move into his grip.

Link snapped himself out of the trance, gulping down thickly he moved back over to the saddlebags. His hands moved over the sword hoisted above it. Bringing out another thick black coat and a soldiers tunic, made from crimson leather and white cloth, he threw them to her. The armour would put him a little more at ease about her safety.

"There's a space to change in the back, don't be too long," he said as she rolled her eyes at him.

He picked out a grey horse with a white mane. The royal white stallion would hardly be a great choice in regards to their situation. Though his own brown steed would work fine, Epona had been gone for some time now, it felt almost wrong to keep the wild steed locked up in a stable or tied to a tree.

He brushed the horse's long mane as it chuffed at him gratefully. He gently pushed a saddle onto its back along with all the other necessary gear making sure the straps were correctly positioned and tightened.

"How do I look?"

He turned towards the voice. With anyone else the attire would've looked pretty drab but Zelda was hardly just anyone. Even with the hood pulled up she still looked beautiful and had pulled off the practical set with the same elegance of a Gerudo warrior.

"Uh…" It felt like a brick had hit his head. "Yeah that's definitely better…"

Link quickly moved over to his horse as the princess looked at him quizzically.

"Let's just get going," he said.

They rode out into as the sun had likely reached its highest point. It was hard to tell due to the thick grey clouds, which now blanketed the sky and brought down rain in sheets. The cloaks they wore were very welcome and had managed to keep off most of the rain but Link soon felt the water slowly drip through, wetting his hair and back slightly.

When he turned to Zelda it was clear they should stop. She leant forwards in her saddle, head bobbing down slightly with the gentle Rhythm of the horse. Her grip on its reigns was slack and eyes struggled to stay open from behind the shadow of the dark hood.

"There's a tree further up the hill we'll stop for some rest and food." He turned his horse off the track and began to climb the hill.

She murmured something he couldn't quite catch, from behind, but she was following closely, so Link kept his horse moving.

As they reached the tree he leapt off his horse into the wet ground, with a splash and rushed over to Zelda to help her down. She practically fell off into his arms but he held her tightly as he brought her up the hill, to the spot where they would make camp for the night. He rested her head against a fallen Log as her eyes closed shut tightly.

* * *

 _"Should I be calling you, your highness now?"_

 _"Shut up, I missed you"_

 _She rushed over to him as soon as he landed off the windowsill and they embraced fiercely._

 _"I thought I trained the guards a little better than that. I'd have a harder time sneaking into my own home."_

 _"I'll have to tell them to look out for your stupid bonehead, besides it's not like you have to sneak in anymore. I am the Queen after all and even if I wasn't, the guards would do anything for you."_

 _"Maybe your right but they can't know yet. I'm not ready…"_

 _"I know…I know. Just tell me, why were you gone for so long?"_

 _"I missed it."_

 _"Missed what?"_

 _"The beaten path, the adventure, it just feels good to be in that position again you know?"_

 _"I get it... just please don't leave me again. I need you Link, more than you can possibly imagine."_

 _"Well, I do seem to remember what we were doing before I left…"_

 _"If the people only knew how filthy their hero's mind was…"_

 _She laughed with joy as he hoisted on her bed._

 _"Now where did we leave off?"_

* * *

Zelda's eyes fluttered open. The gentle orange glow of the fire spread a much needed warmth across her face. The dry furs, encased around her, made her just want to snuggle up and fall back into a deep sleep. That dream had certainly been something; she shuddered at the thought of her subjects learning of that memory.

As she looked across the flames she saw Link sat on a stone, he was sharpening a plain sword. On it there contained no embellishment and the scabbard at his side mirrored this, with a plain leathery brown.

"What of the Master Sword? Did you leave it back at the castle?" her voice shocked him a little but, he was soon back to his task.

"I put it back."

"Put it back?" she gasped out. The sword and Link were one and he had worked so hard to get it back and yet now its separation seemed like an almost casual occurrence.

"Yeah…it's the sword that seals the darkness. And the darkness has been sealed. There is no need for it anymore." He was saying it so indifferently.

"Still, that blade belongs to you, it **chose** you all those years ago," the whole ordeal was a little too much to take.

"Alright fine!" his eyes shot up at her as the blade rested on the ground. "I did it after I left. I couldn't stand to look at it anymore, it just glared up at me constantly. Your words kept playing through it. I wanted it to just die in the past, just like everything else."

Zelda tightened the furs around herself looking down at the hands that gripped the blankets. "I was frustrated Link, what I said it wasn't-"

"It was true and you know it," he said. "I am lost. There's nothing for me anymore, the Kingdom is safe, for the most part. Monsters no longer terrorise the roads and there exists no greater evil to beat down. The Knights Order is now self-sufficient and day by day there's less need for a wanderer like me."

She couldn't look across at him.

"And everything I ever loved, all those things I left behind to the past, it's all moved on now. The Champions, my Parents, Impa…even you. But I'm still here, stuck in what feels like my own frozen sacred realm."

"You have no right to presume…" her voice came through fiercely and she looked up into the stormy intensity of his eyes.

"You know I'm not wrong, you're the Queen now. _You don't need me_."

His words cut through her harshly but that same burning flame remained. "Sure we lost all those people but, there is still so much to fight for, and so many that still rely on you. As for your place in the world... You could have just stayed with me."

"So what? We can continue to argue about all those things again? So that I can feel trapped in there like I always do and so that you become annoyed by my need of secrecy?"

"You don't think those were minuscule things when compared to everything we've been through together? You don't think whatever we had was worth the conflict? You don't think it's worth something now?" She fired the questions back on him and it was clear he had been defeated.

"Perhaps it is worth it…" he looked across at her wistfully and then shivered desperately. "But why am I so tired Zelda?" She realised suddenly that Link no longer wore his cloak. In fact it probably lay wrapped around her like all the other fabric.

She moved over to him gently, not daring to disturb the sudden peace. Link watched her slow approach.

"I'll be fine, don't worry"

No way…there was no way she would let him sit there cold and miserable. She pushed him down off the rock and onto the dry grass so that now his back lay against it. With a graceful motion she wrapped the furs around him, which he took in his arms gladly. She sat next to her Hero. He was cold, she could feel it just from brushing against him. As he pulled one end of the mess of blankets, cloaks and furs so did she with the other.

As they watched the flames Zelda felt the warmth flow over her like before. Only this feeling was deeper down, it was one she could remember all too well. Her eyes felt heavy once again and as they began to close her head rested on Link's shoulder.

Zelda had already fallen asleep, long before she could notice the Knight also lean into her, burying his nose in her golden hair.


	2. Two Trees

**Thanks for the responses. I usually just send PMs but, it doesn't seem like a lot of those messages are going through so I'll just do it here.**

 **Thankyou James Birdsong and frostking104 for your lovely reviews. You both reviewed my other story as well and I really appreciate you guys taking the time to read and review. So glad you guys like my stuff, its very humbling.**

 **Moon bank thanks too for the good review and I'll take the point about too much talking. It was a pretty meaty chapter and I'm afraid this one is quite similar, though I hope you find it a little better.**

 **Thanks to: Batch03, DuckTapeDictator (awesome name btw), Legend of the Titans, LurkMore, Nicols296, Zargon654, elvanal2001 and emulp for the follow.**

 **Huge thanks to: Batch03, DuckTapeDictator, Legend of Titans and Elvanal2001 for the favourite.**

 **Much love and please enjoy.**

* * *

Part 2

 _A strong breeze entered my room today, it pushed a large green leaf onto my desk and as I looked at it I could think only of you._

 _I know you are a person of the wild and that it calls to you wherever you are. If I could I would leave the stone walls of this castle behind and follow you into it, never looking back. However, that is a childish fantasy and we know the number of not just lives but, the amount of hope that rides on me._

 _Do you ever find it difficult, to be able to handle that pressure? You always seemed able to rise above it, become beyond what people expected of you._

 _There is much to occupy me here, my desk is always filled with papers, my courtroom overrun with people seeking my judgement. But in these cold evenings, when I am alone, I wish you were here with me again, just like the beginning. Is it juvenile of me to wish that we could've stayed back in those times, when you were my appointed Knight and me the Princess? That the calamity never came? Perhaps…_

 _Either way I miss you. Please hurry home._

* * *

The shadow of the looming Dual Peaks dominated the landscape below, though the sun continued to throw its glow all over the grassy lands beneath it. It shot shards of light deep into the waters of the River Hylia and they gleamed up shimmering beneath its surface, as though the Goddesses themselves danced beneath the waters. Two hills sat on opposite sides of the river, each standing as tall as the other. On both lay tall trees which dazzled brilliantly in the morning light. If it had not been for the sleek wet film, that covered the land, it would've been impossible to tell a storm had occurred the day before.

The trees sat staring at each other, indistinguishable. The only separating factor was that the tree on the western bank sat slightly below the ruins of what may have been an old outpost.

Beneath it were the embers of a fire, one that had burned brightly the night before. It had been the last source of heat in the dark coldness of the night and now only memory of its heat remained in the light of the sun. A girl lay beneath the tree, entangled in furs and snuggling into their heat as she slept, basking in the last embers of the fire.

Across from her a hooded figure stood above a cooking pot, humming to himself gently. From just looking at the relaxed look on his face it was easy to see that he wasn't all there. All worries and inhibitions were far removed from his mind and in this trancelike state he was truly at peace.

However, in the midst of cooking his concentration broke, though just for a second. He silently glanced at the girl lying down in her sleep.

Both were ignorant that over one hundred years ago, across underneath the other tree, they had sheltered a similar storm.

Zelda woke up to the smell of steamed rice and mushrooms. It was in a bowl in front of her and as she sat up and picked up the bowl curiously, she looked around for Link in a sudden shock.

Zelda breathed a little easier when she saw him down by the horses packing the saddlebags, he looked most at ease when he was working. Here he was in his element, constantly moving, never in one place. It hurt a little to think he preferred it over her.

She rubbed her head. Last night did really happen. Zelda's slumber last night was the best sleep she had gotten for years. Often she would lay awake at night, the various tasks and responsibilities swirling around her head. Worst of them all was the prospect of marriage.

 _You need to tell him_. It was too difficult.

"Eat now. The Yiga have a base somewhere in the Faron grasslands, that is where they'll have taken him," Link said. He had moved up to the campsite and was now stamping out the last embers of the fire. If it was not only her at the campsite she wouldn't have been entirely sure if he was actually speaking to her. No effort was made to acknowledge her presence.

"Okay…how are we going to find them?" she asked.

It had been just a day of travelling but already dots of black hemmed his jaw, spiking out like a cactus.

Link pulled forwards his hood. "I'll deal with that."

"Don't you think it necessary to tell me?" she asked

"No."

She was about to open her mouth to speak again but Link threw something at her feet.

 _A bow?_ She measured it in her hands. It was light, much lighter than any of the clumsy bows of the Knights and Guards of the castle. There could be no doubt that it was elegant but one could only tell by holding it. Plain and wooden, the bow was a true reflection of this simpler approach Link was taking into his life. In an indirect way it was like he was almost sharing a part of himself with her. Link already knew she could shoot a bow, she had taken it up when she was younger, only to lose the privilege in turn for being able to pursue her more scholarly activities.

"For your protection," he said.

Zelda was taken aback. Link was more than capable of looking after her, the bow meant more than just protection. "Link I don't know what to sa-"

"Don't shoot unless I tell you to." From his tense expression it was clear he didn't see it in the same positive light.

"What?" she breathed.

"Repeat it back to me." His expression narrowed, very rarely did Link ever show aggression and when he did it had been in desperate defence of her.

"I won't shoot unless you tell me," she practically spat it back up at him, as though the very words themselves were an insult directed at him

"Good"

Link got up and turned back to the horses and she smiled to herself before blowing a raspberry at him. What? So it wasn't the queenliest thing but, this was Link.

His back tensed up and as he turned his head to the side Zelda saw that he was heavily supressing a smile. She braced herself for his inevitable, and of course very witty, comeback. Though instead of forming a wide, sly grin, Link simply turned back to the horse and began to prepare it again.

 _What's his problem today?_

* * *

Zelda sat back in her saddle looking over the Lake Hylia. It was perfect to be back here in the wild once again, especially here with Link. Though they rode side by side, Link's expression stern and fixed on the horizon, much like how he had been when first appointed as her Knight. In fact Zelda struggled to keep up with his ferocious pace as he moved his horse across the bridge.

Something was definitely wrong. He hadn't said a single thing to her today that wasn't an order. It was certainly a rare change from the servants and advisors of the castle. It could've been about last night but it's hardly like it had been a bad argument and it had been a left on quite a nice note… Okay a really nice note.

Link was known for being rather focused sometimes, perhaps this was just one of these times. You'd think after five years of this she'd be able to tell. Maybe that was the problem. He rarely let her know what was wrong.

"Halt there travellers!"

A voice from above the tower called down to them. Zelda was instantly out at ease when she saw the red crest of the Hylian guard. Two men came down from the tower and approached them.

"In the name of Queen Zelda identify yourselves." The guards were both brandishing long spears and squinted up at them through the rays of the sun.

Link held a hand up to Zelda and looked down into them. The guards stirred a little at his gaze, shifting uncomfortably in their light armour.

"Travellers," Link said. "We're riding to Lurelin village."

"Who is she?" The guard to the left pointed his spear at Zelda but she kept her head low. Both would easily recognise their queen if she removed her hood.

"Tetra of Hateno…is there a problem here?" Link asked.

"We've seen Yiga in the area sir, we want to make sure you both are fine. Have you heard of any reports of them?" one guard replied.

Link glanced over at her, expression unreadable.

"I see," he said.

The hero dismounted and the guards shifted again their weapons clinking quietly.

"Do you not want to know who I am?" Link asked.

Zelda groaned internally. _Now is not the time for showing off titles Link, what part of discrete didn't you understand._

"Erm, sorry I don't underst-" The guard on the right began.

"I'm Link the Hero of Hyrule, Beastslayer and Hunter of Yiga." He brought his hood down as he honed in on the guards.

Both guards froze suddenly.

Link glanced from one to the other.

The guard on the right tightened his grip on the spear.

Link brought out a knife from his leg shoving it into the guard on the right and as the other stumbled back. The man cried out as he withdrew a scythe whilst on the floor. Link was fast though, too fast. He drew his sword from the black depths of his cloak and brought it down hard into the man's leg.

"Link!" Zelda cried out. They were guards, sure they couldn't know about the mission but they were her guards all the same. How could Link just do that, without even blinking?

"Where did you take him?" Link said. He was oddly calm for the situation but the guard beneath him fumbled about. He twisted and writhed on the ground.

"What are you talking about! You're insane." The guard's eyes had widened significantly. There was something more off about his voice.

"Link!" she repeated. Zelda had to get through to him.

"Where did you take him?" Link had not moved an inch, his arm remained steady on the sword that remained routed in the guards leg.

"You're crazy man, I don't know what you're on about."

Zelda was just about to get off and throw Link off her guard as best as she could but then she noticed the body collapsed on the ground off to the side.

In a flurry of cards the red garb of a Yiga was revealed, the man beneath it lying motionless.

"How did you…?" the other guard looked up in horror.

Link twisted the sword eliciting a howl from the man. "I won't repeat it again…"

"Okay please, no more, Pappetto Grove that's where we're holding him." The Yiga was holding his hands up waving in terror.

Link moved back to the other body removing his knife from their heart. Zelda could only watch in shock.

The Yiga remained rooted in the ground, unmoving. He let out a hideous cackle. "To think we were the ones hunting you before. How times have changed. You would've made an excellent Yiga…"

Zelda looked away as the Knife screeched through flesh. The sound sent an estranged shiver though her.

"Get off"

Zelda turned to see Link wiping the blade on the crimson tunic. He still wasn't looking at her, perhaps the only way to make him was to challenge him.

"What if I don't? Will you gut me, just like them? You couldn't have known for sure they were Yiga."

He glared up at her. "We're not back in the Castle Zelda, this is Yiga clan territory. You need to do what I say or it won't end well. I know Yiga."

"Right…and not even talking to me like I'm a real person helps with your whole protection," she grumbled. Still she refused to back down.

Link retrieved his sword and began to tie his horse to the tree. "Yeah it does actually."

"Oh! And why is that?" Her voice was rising, that burning fire of rage was lighting slowly again.

He glanced up at her. "Never mind. Zelda please get down from the horse."

Victory was not as sweet as she expected. Link immediately set off walking towards the Faron plains. Zelda had to run to catch up, he didn't look back to check if she was okay, not once. Something was definitely wrong.

She chased after him. "What's your problem Link? You're clearly in a foul mood. You think it's okay to order me about, not even treat me as a human?"

He continued to walk.

"Stop ignoring me Link, you can't just hide away like that. Tell me what's wrong."

He stopped suddenly, hands clenched and he looked down. "I can't… I can't talk to you."

"Link…"

"This is our last adventure together. You know it. You knew from the beginning." He did not turn but moved his head slightly to the side. "So yeah of course I'm hiding away. Now unless there are any more pointless statements you have, let's just go and get Sidon back."

Zelda fumbled for her words, for her reply. Link knew, somehow he knew. Of course he knew, he wasn't an idiot, she wasn't coming out to make sure the operation went smoothly, or that she wanted to go into the country. This journey was a way of saying goodbye. Soon she would begin to look for a King for the Kingdom and that King would not be Link.

There are some horses in the steppes, far into the cold depths of the wilderness, which are some of the most magnificent creatures in all of Hyrule. They are strong, fast and above all else beautiful. However, they are also wild and untameable. Making them sit in a stable is almost cruel and soon they begin to resent it like a prison itself. In many ways, Link was almost identical in nature.

Zelda followed after Link as he walked back towards the Plains.

* * *

They circled the hill to the south. On it had stood one of the many Shieka towers Link had used to help regain his strength. Now the tower had retreated back into the ground and had shut down. It could hardly be seen from down near by the lake. It was another part of the past that was to disappear, though Zelda would hardly be disappointed to see it go.

She still struggled to find the right words. She wanted to explain herself so badly. The idea of him resenting her because of the decision made her feel awful. She could not find them. Instead she just looked down and followed Link across the fields towards the lining of trees from the grove beyond.

"Link look at me…please," there were no disguised orders or jabs anymore. That little girl inside her, the one she had spent years hiding away, came forward desperately.

He turned to her. Those shining blue eyes looking across at her, they always seemed to bring some form of hope to her when they looked like that. They were alive again.

"I need to explain…" she said.

"You don't have to say anything. As I said before soon everything will move on."

"Just shut up!" it had come out furiously, it reflected the growing frustration of over one hundred years. "Just shut up, if you think I'm the one moving on you really are a moron. I'm not the one who left, I'm not the one running away. I tell you time and time again you can stay and be with me but you ignore me everytime."

"Zelda it's more complicated than that…"

"Is it!" She was screaming at him now. "You think these past few years haven't been hard on me? I needed you Link. I **needed** you and you just left me like I was nothing to you."

"Zelda-"

"Quiet!" It was all too much. "Isn't obvious why I'm trying to move on? You don't need me and you don't want me. That's why you hide away and that's why you can't even stand to announce the nature of our relationship to the world. And I can't do it Link, not anymore."

Link was looking up at the sky now but she continued anyway. "So don't make me feel guilty about it. Don't you dare, because if it was in your position and it was you who was on the throne, they'd have to tare me from you to make me leave."

Link's face scrunched as though he had just been hit hard.

"You talk like those years we spent in the castle were magical." The answer was immediate. "Sure when we were together I was happy. But I didn't belong, I was just a trophy on the wall to everyone, people would just come and gawk at me. And I just couldn't take the fact I'm not the man you need me to be because you need better than that. You need a King, a real King, not some washed up Knight."

His gaze was still fixed on the horizon but compared to Zelda his voice was calm so that she could hear the heavy breaths that came from her body.

"You never told me…" she whispered.

He ignored her. "You're right I don't need you and you need to move on and leave me to die with the rest of the old order. So just go home and please…don't call on me again, I don't think I could take seeing you with another man."

Link turned around and entered the grove, as Zelda knelt on the floor face already wet with tears.

* * *

When Link approached the camp of the Yiga it was already abandoned but, he was happy to see the large figure of the Zora prince writhing on the ground. The bag over his head muffled the threats that were being mumbled beneath a gag.

The Yiga had already heard he was coming, he had to admit they were good at that. The glowing embers of a stamped fire, the half-eaten remains of bananas, they all indicated to one thing. The Yiga had left in a hurry, they were terrified of him and this was their peace offering. A prince all wrapped up like a present.

He pushed all thoughts of her to the back of his head and advance on the camp. After this he was done. Done with it all.

He removed the bag of Sidon's head.

"What did I tell you about blindly trusting strangers…" he said smiling down at the Zora prince.

When their eyes met Link, with a chilling realisation, saw not gladness in his eyes but utter panic. He withdrew the rag from Sidon's mouth.

"Link they knew, they knew," he let it all out in a gasp, Link had not know the princes voice to be so desperate.

"Link they're going for her now, they're going for Zelda."

The Knight didn't say a word. With one swift motion he cut Sidon's bonds and sprinted back the way he came. There were no thoughts, was no noise moving through his head, save for the panicked heavy beating of his heart.

* * *

Link burst from the trees. His legs burned with fatigue but it was meaningless. Instead he just screamed through the fatigue and kept going. A cry of anguish exploded from him when he saw the figure further down the hill.

He slipped and tripped as he went legs buckling desperately. The hero of Hyrule fell down like a ragdoll sliding across the ground. When he got her she was already so pale. Zelda's skin had been milky pale before but now she looked almost lifeless. In her side was a green arrow...poison. The Yiga wanted him to watch her die, slowly.

Link took her body cradling her in his arms as though it was the last time he'd ever do it. He gasped gently under his breath. She was so cold and her lips had turned white.

 _She'll survive she has to._

Sidon was there by his side in an instant. "Link let me look at her, I'm not my sister but I've learned a little about healing."

The prince had to practically prise Link's vicelike grip from her body. He moved a hand over her body. The green light that moved from his hands flowed over her body. Colour would return each moment only to turn to pale white once again.

"It's a nasty poison Link, my magic isn't strong enough. We need to get her to Purah but…" the prince was looking at him nervously.

"What?!" Link's voice rasped out towards him.

"Link, I'm not sure if there's anything she can do. I don't want to get your hopes up, I know how much she means to you."

"I see…" Link held back the tears, they would not help him now. His jaw tensed as he threw it all away and he spat on the ground next to him.

"Help me carry her we need to get to the horses as quickly as possible."

* * *

 _Zelda and Link sat on the bridge to her study. The Princess was yet to move into her father's wing of the castle. The rebuilding had only just been completed but the new Castletown hardly reflected the eerie quietness of the Castle. The new town had grown quite lively in the past year of its resurrection, much thanks to both their efforts._

 _Zelda was quietly snoring on his shoulder. He was quite thankful she wasn't dribbling this time. Link chuckled softly. The image of the soon to be Queen of Hyrule with a dribble patch was a little too much._

 _The rumours had gotten to him today. Since the inception of the Order it had gotten less reliant on Link. It's members were far more dedicated than Link to it's revival. Various advisors and even guards had begun to call him washed up. The desperation to run away from it all continued to grow. He wanted to feel needed again._

 _Link brushed the hair from her face as she snuggled more into his shoulder and he smiled fondly down at her._

 _"Why can't I say it, what's wrong with me?" he asked the unconscious girl. "One hundred years and it still feels impossible."_

 _He paused as she stirred a little. "I can't be the leader you want me to be, and saying it will just confirm my path."_

 _A sigh escaped his lips. He was talking to himself again. To think he never really talked and now he even did it when there was no one around._

 _"I love you, I'll always love you."_

 _The confession put him at ease a little, even if she did not hear it._

 _"And I can't tell you because I don't want to give you false hope. It'd be like making a promise I can't keep."_

 _He grazed her hand with his._

 _"I just don't think I can fight it anymore Zelda, I'm so damned tired."_

* * *

"I'll be returning to my father he'll want to know I am safe, I'm so sorry Link for the pain I have caused you," The prince had stood up now, the tense silence had ended.

"The fault is mine, not yours," Link said his look did not invite Sidon to disagree.

"Have faith brother, I'll expect you in the Domain in a few weeks we can catch up again," he grinned down at Link with the smile that usually brought him great comfort. It did work a little.

"Thankyou" he whispered.

Sidon was just turning to leave when it slipped out.

"If you could see Mipha…"

Sidon turned quizzically.

"If you could say one last thing to her what would it be," Link was holding back the tears again, he knew Sidon could see them hemming his eyes. They threatened to fall again.

"Even if I could I wouldn't, I used to play that situation every day in my head. But the past is just that Link, there's nothing I could say to her to change that. And it'd be so easy to live there, in the past, but people rely on me now more than ever and I have to rise to that."

Link studied his hands as he watched the prince move away crossing the bridge on the road back to his home.

 _"The past is just a story we tell ourselves."_

It was time to let it die.

When Purah came out of Link's house gripping to his knee tightly with her small hand he knew what she would say. She had done her best and the Queen had but days to live. Link just nodded, the exhaustion had gone away finally but, it was too late and he knew it.


	3. Journey's End

**This'll be the last part, or at least I think it is. I've enjoyed writing an older couple and I kinda wish I had a few more of the earlier chapters, where it feels like they're walking on glass shards. I'll probably go back to finishing my other story "familiarity" now this is done.**

 **I want to thank the two new reviews, though I think they're both from the same person (the website gets a little weird with guest reviews) so I'll answer them as one. Thanks man, I do agree I need to work on the flow of my stories but I'm glad you like it overall.**

 **And thanks RAF-Fire for favouriting and following, hope you enjoy the last chapter :)**

 **That's all, on with the story.**

* * *

Part 3

 _"It's just all too much. They don't even know me, not a single one of them, but still they rely on me. What if I can't be what they want me to be? I'm not like you Link I can't rise above their expectations."_

 _"We spend all our time worrying about what others expect of us. It's not their hopes you're hearing. The minute you realise those are your doubts not theirs, is the moment you can begin to deal with them."_

 _"I'm scared Link."_

 _"Hey don't act like I'm the stable shoulder in all of this I'm terrified too."_

 _She chuckled softly. "I'm sorry I just can't see you being scared."_

 _"I'm scared of a lot of things."_

 _"Mhmm? Like what?" she leaned into the crook of his shoulder further._

 _"Bolson for one, that guy terrifies me and… " he paused for a moment eyes growing rather wide._

 _"And what?"_

 _"Butterflies" he breathed, eyes remaining their massive size._

 _She almost choked. "Butterflies?!"_

 _"Yeah they're freaky okay?" He looked to the side. "Hey! Stop laughing."_

 _"I'm sorry, I'm just imagining you running away from a tiny butterfly." She could barely speak through the gasps of laughter._

 _"Zelda…cut it out."_

 _He pushed his hand over her mouth and their sparkling eyes met._

 _"Anyway, courage isn't the absence of fear it's just how you deal with it."_

 _She moved his hand away. "If that's what helps you sleep at night, away from those vicious winged beasts, then so be it."_

 _"That's it, you're dead, Sidon will just have to take up your crown."_

 _She squealed as he got up and chased her across the bed._

 _"Stop, stop, okay the butterflies will no longer be mentioned." He was holding her wrists up as the laughter bounced through her. Back against the cupboard behind, she looked up into those eyes, the ones she loved. His smile melted from his face and he looked at her dreamily. From the slack feeling in her own, she expected that she was doing the same._

 _"Link," it came out like a gentle breeze. "I-"_

 _The confession was cut short as his lips pressed into hers_

* * *

Link leaned against the tree, it had been where he had dwelled for what felt like an eternity. Time didn't seem to move in the same way it used to. It was like the world around him moved slower around him and the few days he had been there, felt like months. He surely wasn't in a great state, the bags beneath his eyes seemed to actually weigh on him and the stubble that and been growing on his face was now becoming manic and wild.

Their voices washed over him like rain. Sure he was listening but, only because ignoring them wouldn't make them leave.

"If the Queen is in such a dire position, we must begin to consider alternatives," one of the councillors said. He had a name but the information had been thrown out of Link's head like junk.

"The council has already taken emergency measures to keep the Kingdom going, if the worst really does come to pass we'll be ready to keep going," another said.

"We also wish to bring a guard here to ensure the Queen is safe from further attacks…"

Link turned and looked at the three of them, for what was probably the first time since they arrived. "The Queen is safe."

"Master Link…you have not slept for days we cannot trust-"

"I will not allow it," Link practically snapped through the man's words.

"We must be sure that-"

"Send anyone here with a weapon and I'll kill them, I swear to Hylia I will do it. She's fine with me." The councillors shifted uncomfortably. Link meant it with all his heart.

"Very well sir, there is another matter we wish to discuss."

Link turned towards the house. _Just go away please._

"Hyrule is a **King** dom, without someone on the throne there will be inevitable chaos. If the Queen is not to survive…" the man waved his arms around like he was about to take off into the sky.

"Someone will need to take their place," Link said. He retreated to his mind in wonder. That's why they were really here. Not to check how the Queen was but it was Link they wanted to take over after her death. When he swallowed it seemed to grip to his throat.

"You have the support of the people, they adore you perhaps even more than the Queen herself," they had begun to inch forwards, slithering towards him. "The order is also firmly behind you and the rules of succession don't dictate against it."

Link was physically on the brink of collapsing from just sheer exhaustion. But that same weight he had held before had completely vanished.

Is this what it had taken to recover? It seemed a price too high but, it had already been paid. The Kingdom was the last of her hopes and energies, Zelda had put everything into its rebirth. Soon it would be all he had left of her and he wasn't prepared to lose that too.

"If it comes to that, I will be whatever the Kingdom needs me to be," he said, looking firmly and directly at them now. Time seemed to move back to normal once more.

They all bowed their heads down before him, movements so overdone they seemed disingenuous. "You grace us with this response. We may all rest a little easier with the knowledge that not everything may be lost."

The councillors looked to each other with broad smiles. They were already patting each other on the back even if it was just with a look. Link couldn't understand how they could be so happy, least of all here.

"It is such a shame about the girl though," one said, as he veered closer to Link again. "We offer our sympathies, we know you were…close."

"It's not over yet, Councillor." Link's voice came out barely in a whisper and from the neutral faces of the three men, it was clear they did not believe him. Damn the Twilight, not even he believed it.

With that the councillors turned tail and slid back across the bridge. Link watched them as they left breathing a little easier as the distance increased. Just five years and the slimly, corrupt politicians had already latched onto the bloody arm of the kingdom like some leech.

He brought a hand to his head, where pain hammered away at his skull. Link needed sleep. He turned back towards the dark silhouette of the house.

* * *

The house was similar to how it had been when he had first bought it. Lamps and candles had filled the room before but they had all been put out. Now the only source of light was from the window, where a white beam cascaded over the rather bleak interior. Link had never been the best interior designer but the place had seemed much cosier the past few years. Now it just felt cold.

He moved over to the bed, the pot of stew was in his hands and he placed it gently on the table at the side. The nap had been more than well received by his body, though it was hardly good sleep. He filled the wooden cup with cold water and sat in the chair once again.

"Link…" the voice came out in a desperate rasp, barely audible. It had been the only thing she seemed capable of saying in this semi-conscious state. Her expression was weak but the desperation in her eyes proved the will to fight was still there. Link's gut panged with guilt when every day it seemed to weaken.

"Hush," he brushed the hair away from her pale clammy forehead. "Please Zelda, try to eat this, it will help."

When he moved the bowl towards her mouth she gripped his arms in an equally desperate manner and she gladly ate a little before returning to sleep once again. Only now she held his hand to her chest, so that now he could feel the steady beating of her heart.

Purah and Symin had returned from the shrine the previous day. Like the rest of the Shieka technology it had returned to rest once again. There would be no magical resurrections this time. The little scholar's tears had seeped into his trousers once more, as she clung to his leg trying to offer Link some form of comfort. The pair had decided it was best to leave Link alone. He was hardly in the most talkative mood to be fair.

He shifted back in his chair slightly, it creaked beneath the weight. He stared at the window once more. It was calling to him again. For the past few years he had heard the noise but now it seemed to reverberate through him more than ever.

Link had wanted the past to die for the longest time, with each loss he felt it slip away slightly. Maybe he was wrong though. It wasn't time to kill the past. It was time to accept it.

Link released Zelda's hand. The steps shuddered beneath each step as he walked slowly down the stairs. Door slightly ajar he pushed it so that the grey light of the clouded sun burst through into the dim house. He stepped out into it and looked up at the hill. A tree stood tall above it looking out into the sea. It had been months since he had last been up the hill.

Gentle humming filled his mind again, as he practically sleepwalked up the hill. There on the top emerged four tall stones, which lay in the shadow of the leaves.

Link moved forwards and knelt down before the fourth and final grave. Unlike the others it was unmarked, he had prepared it long ago for one purpose.

 _Some other day perhaps_

Ironically, on the bed of grass that had grown over the grave there lay the flower. The blue white leaves of the silent princess sat there on the grave. He gripped its stalk, fingers gently brushing against the delicate petals of the flower. Before he finally pulled the length of the plant from the earth and tucked it gently into his pocket so that it stuck out slightly.

Link brushed aside the dirt. Clawing at it he removed it in chunks, until eventually his nails scratched against wood.

He lifted the board with great strain as roots and dirt clung to it, refusing to let go. His will was too strong though and soon it gave way to reveal the dirty brown cloth beneath. He removed it from the hole and placed it there beneath the tree. With one tentative hand he unravelled the fabric as the humming increased in intensity. As though what lay beneath called out to him.

The familiar blue tunic and blue gold sword lay beneath him. He brushed the dirt off both and put on the champion's garb, it was light and clung to him perfectly. Then with the same apprehension as a mother deer, he pulled at the scabbard of the sword as the blue light moved across his face.

The Master Sword looked at him, and for once he looked back.

* * *

 _"You infuriate me, you refuse to change, refuse to move on from anything. It's over! You can be or do whatever you want!" she threw another pot at his head and he ducked as green rupees fell around him like rain._

 _"You think you know me so well…you do not. You just don't understand." Link's voice matched hers in ferocity._

 _"Oh I understand Link. All you've ever wanted to do since I began this is run away. Hide away from everything." She gripped the side of the table, it was the only thing that kept them separated._

 _"You're scared Link, you're scared that you're role is changing and you're scared that you can't live up to it," the rage in her voice had faded and it was beginning to break._

 _"Hell I'm scared too. I'm terrified that in trying to do all this for the people of Hyrule, I'm neglecting what is more important, and I'm terrified that at some point I'll have to choose between the two."_

 _Link's fists unclenched as he opened his mouth to speak, "If you're talking about me then you can-"_

 _She cut him off raising her tone to challenge him, "-and more than anything I'm afraid that you don't care me about me anymore, I'm scared that you don't lo-"_

 _"Don't say it…"_

 _She paused and looked at him rather too directly. "I'm not asking for much Link I just want to know this is going somewhere."_

 _Link was silent._

 _"I don't know why you can't say it back…do you really feel anything for me?"_

 _He looked away the desire in him burned away once again._

 _"It's not that, I just…I just can't okay?" Link's voice rose at the end, the rage and frustration burning in him. His face twisted and writhed with pain and Zelda's lip stuck out and trembled in response._

 _She bit it and her eyebrows furrowed the way they did when she was angry. "You may look like a man now but really you're just a lost little boy."_

 _His fists clenched again. "Maybe I am a man. I'm just not the one you you're crying out for. I'm not the one you're trying to force on me!"_

 _"Get out." She did not yell it but the words were more venomous then anything that had been uttered that night._

 _The silence lasted an eternity before Link finally accepted what was happening. "I won't come back this time. This will be it."_

 _She turned away and looked at the wall so that he could not see the tears in her eyes._

 _"Get out," she repeated._

 _Link turned and slammed the door behind him_

* * *

He shaved, cutting himself only a little. Link could be clumsy at the best of times. But, it only felt right to be at his best when he said his goodbyes, and it was best to say them now, while there was still some semblance of a chance that she could still hear him.

All this time Link had wanted to curl up and die. He had fought and died only to be given the chance to kill Ganon again. Once that fight was over he just wanted it to be over. The one thing that kept him going all that time was her. But there was more to this new world, then Link had thought and his place in it was greater than he had ever expected. And his place was most certainly here.

Link had accepted his fate. He sat in that old rickety chair that Bolson had likely found in some ruins somewhere and just stared down at her as she slept.

She was as pale as the snows of the Hebra Mountains. He brushed the hair off her face for what would likely be the last time. So he savoured the moment, gliding his fingers across the skin gently.

"I didn't understand then but I do now," he whispered down to her. "You were always enough. I didn't need anything else, it was just all in my head, I wish I hadn't been trapped there all this time."

He leant forwards in the chair onto his knees, so that he was but a few inches from her face. "It consumed me, every part of me and now here we are. But I'm not afraid anymore Zelda and I'm not tired either. I will rise up again and again if it means preserving this Kingdom and if it means preserving whatever you hold close. You said once that I had given you everything you could've ever hoped for. But you have done the same for me." He took her in his arms, cradling her back gently into a close hug and lifted her back slightly but steadily off the bed towards him. Planting a firm kiss on her forehead he rocked her gently in his arms.

"I love you, I have always loved you."

For the longest time those two years in the wilderness had been dominated by the awful thoughts, their arguments, their fights. Link closed his eyes tightly and found himself adrift in all those many memories he had pushed aside. Few people can experience memory so vividly in their lives, even fewer can do it twice. But now Link went back not because he had forgotten, but because he had decided to remember.

Link was back to the time he had tried to make her a cake, like the ones Zelda used to have in the castle, only to fail miserably.

Zelda's face had been shocked when she walked into a kitchen covered, almost entirely, in flour.

Her gaze widened further when it fell over to the Hero of Hyrule who was now covered in the cake mix he had tried to make. His face probably matched hers, as he had not expected her to come back so soon.

As he began to apologise the room suddenly filled with laughter, as she rushed forwards throwing a handful of flour in his face playfully.

It had taken hours to clean that place up but neither of them cared.

Then he saw all those times that he had snuck up into her room at night, past all the guards, climbing across the Castle stones like he did when he was once a child.

Often he would surprise her, walking in on her studying or lying in bed. Link often couldn't resist screaming out across the room and making her jump high enough to hit the celling.

But one night when he entered the room was empty. As he began to look around a battle cry called from the curtains and she leapt from them, pinning him to the ground as she grinned down at him.

As he flipped her over onto the ground she had another surprise in store for him. Grabbing his face in her hands she pulled his face down onto hers.

That had been a good night.

Then he was back there with her, when they had been on the way to the domain. She had stopped by a river to look at some rare species of fish that had not been added to the compendium.

It was too easy and he just couldn't resist the urge. Link pushed her into the refreshingly cold waters of the river.

She had glared up at him from beneath the wet blonde hair that clung over her face. He had pushed her into an area where the water had slowed, forming a pool in a sandy rounded bank.

She looked pretty pissed but as he came forwards apologizing and offering his hand she suddenly yelled in glee, before grabbing it and launching him into the waters beside her.

The calm waters turned into raging rapids in that moment.

Then he was there again, in all those times that they walked through the woods only to just loose themselves and lie in the grass, as the stars formed in the skies above. No fire was needed then, they just huddled there beneath the night sky.

And the times where they had both collapsed into each other's arms, both exhausted, were in the hundreds, Link from training the men and Zelda from the headaches of organising a Kingdom. He would just sit on the bed with her head in his lap massaging her hair gently as she told him the stresses of the day.

All those memories, that was their story. Not the story they had been told to live but the one they had forged for themselves. And Link liked it very much. More than anything he had ever experienced.

Link felt a fat tear roll down his face, as he buried his face in her hair.

With his eyes closed he did not notice the glowing mark on Zelda's hand light up the room in a brilliant light. Neither did he see her eyes shoot open, revelling in the memories of their past.

But when her arms tightened around his back, hugging him tightly, Link's heart began to thump hard in his chest. He felt the strong grip on his tunic and the heat returning to the previously cold cheek that pressed to his.

"I love you too, though I'm sure you know," she whispered into his left ear as his body shivered with euphoria.

They clung to each other tightly, for a while longer.

* * *

"You really meant it?"

"Yeah I meant it," Link said, he cold not control the smile that crossed his face, it was like an animal that had been let loose.

"Are you sure?"

"Zelda…" he chuckled. "I'm sure you don't have to ask me like fifty times."

Zelda then realised how often she'd been asking him over the past few hours, whilst Link had been explaining what had happened.

It was all rather blurry to her. She didn't even remember getting attacked by the Yiga, though she definitely remembered what had happened before. A lot had been lost over the course of her life but all that did not even compare the loss she felt in that moment.

Then she had been adrift, moving from one nightmare to the other. She cried out but no one would reply. Then out of the darkness came Link with those honeyed words and the sweeter memories of him came forwards in a flash.

After all that she was just there in his arms and she knew those words had really been said. Just thinking about them now made her a little dizzy.

Now they were here on the road back to Hyrule, the past few days feeling like they had been birthed from one of her best dreams.

She smiled as her cheeks flushed. "Sorry I'm just a little in shock you know," Zelda said. "To think all these years and it was me dying that helped you get over your issues."

"Well you can be rather irritating sometimes," he said with a smirk. It was nice to have that back again.

She glared across at him and launched the full weight of her body at him in the form of a push. Link tumbled over and began to roll down the slope to the side.

"Oh goddesses, Link!" she yelled. Zelda had hardly considered herself to be that strong but she had clearly underestimated either her strength, or overestimated Link's constant alertness.

She began to run after him but soon momentum got the better of her and much like Link she began to roll down the hill like some runaway barrel.

With one final flip her chin thumped into something. She opened her eyes to see Link there rubbing his head. His eyes squinted and he looked altogether pretty dazed. Zelda opened her eyes as wide as possible to attempt to give an apologetic look.

"Sorry!" she blurted out.

"Remind me not make a joke from this point on…" he grunted, before looking down at her mirroring the gentle flush of her cheeks.

Zelda's head had come to rest just to the side of Link's chest, in the crook of his shoulder. And one arm rested across his body, hand just by Link's shoulder. Her eyes explored him once again as though she was seeing him in a new brilliant light.

"The councillors must've really been clawing at your back…" she said thoughtfully, circling a ring in his tunic with her finger softly.

"You have no idea…" he smiled to himself as though he was sharing some private joke. Though for once Zelda was fine with not knowing what was behind it.

Link snapped out of his personal joke to scratch his head awkwardly. "So do we announce it to them all or…"

She couldn't help but smile, he was rather too adorable when he got nervous.

"No we don't announce it, we just don't hide it anymore. Besides I'm pretty sure they all know by now, you did threaten to kill anyone who came near me," she said, adding an accusing tint to her smile. Zelda had spoken to Purah before they left and heard just what the Knight had been like at her deathbed. The thought of Link threatening the councillors tickled her to no end.

"Yeah don't remind me… Do we really just act like no one is there?" Link asked.

"Really," she chuckled before lifting her right brow up mischievously. "Of course we'll have to announce our marriage if it comes."

Zelda looked at him as his eyes widened further than should be naturally possible and laughed even harder as he began to cough up a storm. Her other hand moved down and squeezed his.

"Don't worry hero, one thing at a time," she said, Link shrugged as if he was thowing off a heavy weight that rested on his shoulders.

Zelda leant against him further, he had definitely grown. "I'm just glad we can look forwards you know…" it came out as a sigh of relief. All those years of questions and inhibitions were now coming to a close.

"Yeah, I know," Link agreed. "Oh and it's when."

"Huh?" she looked up at him quizzically.

His cheeks flushed further. "It's not **if** we get married it's when."

She smiled up at him. "I'll hold you to that."

In all honesty making things official was the last thing on Zelda's mind but it did put her a little more at ease to know Link's commitment.

"You know…" Link ventured, each word as deliberate as the last. "There's a cabin just down the road from here, the guy who lives there goes to Lurelin this time of year. It'll be awful quiet…"

Her eyes closed and she buried herself further into him. "Mhmm, but what about getting back to the Castle…"

Link kissed her on the head and then moved down to her neck prompting a long hum of agreement deep from her throat.

"Well they do still think you're dying. I think the Kingdom can last an hour or so without you, I on the other hand…" His lips brushed hers softly. "I sure missed you."

Zelda pushed off him provoking a groan from Link.

"Well the Kingdom has lasted this long with me in bed, I'm sure it'll be fine for an hour," she clasped her hands together and let out a long sigh.

Link had gotten up now and was dusting the grass and had attempted to push his stupid smirk to the side of his face. It was one she could not stand for.

She came at him like a storm almost knocking him over again but he caught her as their lips met in a crushing embrace.

Nothing was certain in Zelda's life, complications rose and fell, they constantly lapped at her feet like the water at a riverbank. And nothing was certain with Link, he was a character with so much behind him and yet he was so seemingly blank. But there was one thing she did know. If Link was book she had only managed to see a few of his pages in her life. But now he was open, and she couldn't wait to explore every detail inside.


End file.
